


Call Buddies

by kitlee625



Series: Call Buddies [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Doctors & Physicians, Gen, Medical stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:51:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6737059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitlee625/pseuds/kitlee625
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctors AU. Third year. May gets through a tough night on call in the ICU with the help of her call buddy, Coulson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Call Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Take Your Fandom to Work challenge. Thanks to sarahastro for her encouragement to write this fic, and for beta reading it.

Things have been so crazy in the ICU tonight that May forgets that it is her turn to pick up dinner for her and Coulson. It isn’t until she spots him waiting for her at the nurses station that she even thinks to look at the clock. 1:17 am. They were supposed to meet over an hour ago.

She walks over to Coulson, who is chatting with Simmons.

“I forgot. I’m sorry. Do you want me to run and grab something?” she asks.

“It’s okay.” He holds up two bags of greasy fast food from the cafeteria. “I figured you were probably busy. Got a minute?”

Her stomach grumbles at the sight of the food. She can’t remember the last time she had something to eat. Probably not since breakfast, unless you count the whole wheat saltines they stock for the patients.

“Sure.” To Simmons, she says, “We’ll be in the conference room. Can you order a chest x-ray for Mr. Nash, and follow up on Katya’s blood gas?”

“Sure thing,” Simmons says.

Even though they won’t even be leaving the ICU, May feels uneasy being out of sight of the patients. She prefers to be at the nurses station at all times, in the middle of the action. However, Simmons is a good intern, and May trusts that she can handle anything that might come up.

Having dinner together when they are on call together has been a tradition since they started residency. It began two years go in July, when both of them were completely overwhelmed with the responsibility and stress of being brand new interns. It was only natural that they band together and help each other through those difficult nights. Over midnight cheeseburgers, they would swap horror stories and get advice about their patients. Even now, with more than two years of experience under her belt, May still feels better if she can talk through her most challenging patients with him.

Coulson has brought their traditional dinner: two bacon cheeseburgers and a side of fries. There is something comforting about the greasy food, and after being on her feet all day, May is starving. Coulson gives her a concerned look as she digs into her cheeseburger.

“Simmons said you’ve been running around like crazy all day,” he says.

“It’s been one of those days,” May says. “How about you? How’s Mr. Peterson doing?”

Coulson is on call in the cardiac unit tonight, which is another busy unit. Their last call together, they had both spent all night at Mr. Peterson’s bedside, frantically taking care of him as he got sicker and sicker. But by the end of the night, their hard work had paid off, and Mr. Peterson had stabilized.

“It hasn’t been that bad. Mr. Peterson’s doing better. He was listed for transplant yesterday, and hopefully he won’t have to wait too long. He’s at the top of the list thanks to that Swann you put in him.” He smiles at her.

She can tell how relieved he is about Mr. Peterson. He’s been in the cardiac unit the entire month that Coulson has been there. Mr. Peterson’s only chance to leave the hospital alive is to get a heart transplant, but there have always been complications standing in his way. But now that he’s listed, he could get a new heart in a few weeks. May is happy for him, but hearing about how well he’s doing just reminds her of how poorly some of her own patients are doing.

Coulson must notice how she’s feeling because he sets his cheeseburger aside and asks, “How’s Katya doing?”

May shakes her head sadly. Katya has been in the ICU as long as Mr. Peterson has been in the cardiac unit, and she too is in desperate need of a transplant. A few weeks ago, it had seemed like Katya might get a new set of lungs, but then she took a turn for the worse. Now she’s too sick to be listed, and despite everything they’ve tried, she just gets worse and worse.

Coulson places his hand on hers and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry, he says.

“I keep going over her case, hoping to find something that we’re missing. But there’s nothing.”

“You’re doing everything you can,” Coulson says gently. “Sometimes there’s just nothing that can be done.”

She stares down at her dinner. She hates feeling helpless, but she knows that Coulson is right.

Before Coulson can say anything else, his pager goes off. He checks the message.

“I should go,” he says apologetically. “Mr. Peterson’s sister wants to talk to me.”

She should get back to check on her patients too. “Okay. Thanks for dinner.”

“Anytime,” he says. “Let me know if you need anything tonight.”

“Thanks,” she says.

The combination of food and talking to Coulson gives May enough energy to make it through the rest of her shift. Things calm down a little bit after dinner, but even so, she and Simmons are busy right up until the new team arrives at 8 am. She and Simmons take turns on morning rounds, updating the team about each patient and setting a plan for the day. It is a little hard to concentrate after being at work for almost 30 hours, but eventually, they finish rounding, and May is free to leave.

Her mind is still racing after her night on call, and even though she feels completely exhausted, she feels too amped up to sleep. She wishes she could unwind a little bit before going home.

On her way out of the ICU, she is surprised to see Coulson waiting for her. Usually the cardiac team finishes rounds long before the ICU team does.

“Did you just finish rounds?” she asks.

He looks a little embarrassed. “No. We finished an hour ago. I just wanted to see how you were. You seemed kind of sad.”

She sighs. “It was a long night.”

He looks like he’s searching for the right thing to say to cheer her up. “Do you want to go to Jimmy’s?” he suggests hopefully.

She smiles. Jimmy’s is a greasy spoon diner not far from the hospital. It is her favorite place to grab some eggs and a beer after a long call night. “That sounds perfect.”


End file.
